Confederate heroes have their own medal of honor

The Confederate Medal of Honor is shown in a photograph taken in 2010 at the Sons of Confederate Veterans headquarters in Columbia, Tenn. The group awards the medal posthumously to Civil War fighters for the South who distinguished themselves in battle. The private group has awarded 50 of the medal

The Associated Press

The Confederate Medal of Honor is shown in a photograph taken in 2010 at the Sons of Confederate Veterans headquarters in Columbia, Tenn. The group awards the medal posthumously to Civil War fighters for the South who distinguished themselves in battle. The private group has awarded 50 of the medals since 1977. (AP Photo/Courtesy Sons of Confederate Veterans)

The Confederate Medal of Honor is shown in a photograph taken in 2010 at the Sons of Confederate Veterans headquarters in Columbia, Tenn. The group awards the medal posthumously to Civil War fighters for the South who distinguished themselves in battle. The private group has awarded 50 of the medals since 1977. (AP Photo/Courtesy Sons of Confederate Veterans) (The Associated Press)

DAVID DISHNEAU Associated Press

HANCOCK, Md. (AP) — The Medal of Honor has a Confederate counterpart.

The Confederate Medal of Honor has been posthumously awarded 50 times since 1977 by the Sons of Confederate Veterans to fighters for the South who distinguished themselves in battle.

The most recent recipient is Maj. James Breathed (BRETH'-ed), a native Virginian buried in Hancock, Md. Breathed was honored last year for bravery in the 1864 Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse in Virginia.

Rebel heroes will be celebrated this spring at state Confederate Memorial Day observations across the South, starting this weekend in Georgia.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, representing the nearly 3,500 U.S. medal recipients, says it doesn't care about the Confederate medal program — as long as it doesn't pretend to be the federal one.